We Saved Each Other
by TheFreakyGirl
Summary: Set just after Parting of the Ways, except the Doctor's regeneration doesn't go wrong. Does Rose still go home? Or will she stay where deep down she truly wants to be? Obviously Rose/10 with a smidgen of 9. K


**A/N: Just a little one shot I thought of earlier today. Basically, it starts at the end of The Parting of the Ways and continues from there, except the Doctor's regeneration never goes wrong. I did use a lot of the script from the Children In Need special (2005). If you haven't seen it, I strongly suggest you look for it on YouTube. One of my favourite bits, so I decided to toy around with it. (Also, there's nothing like a bit of David Tennant in a leather jacket! Yum!) **

**Disclaimer: All rights go to Doctor Who, I'm just a Whovian with a passion for a wonderful television series. **

Rose woke up, disorientated, on the TARDIS floor. She raised her head to see the Doctor pull a lever on the TARDIS' control panel as it thrummed.

"What happened?" She asked, confused.

"Don't you remember?" He replied, glancing at her.

"It's like…" She thought hard, "There was this…singing,"

"That's right, I sang a song and the Daleks' ran away!" The Doctor joked, although Rose could tell there was something wrong.

"I was at home," She rubbed her forehead as she thought hard. "No, I was in the TARDIS and…there was this light. I can't remember anything else." She noticed him looking at his hand, a sombre look on his face.

"Rose Tyler," He said, looking at her. He exhaled sharply, smiling. "I was going to take you to so many places. Barcelona! Not the city Barcelona, the planet Barcelona. You'd love it, fantastic place. They've got dogs with no noses! Imagine how many times you a day you end up telling that joke and it's still funny!" His laugh was bordering on manic now, and Rose looked at him curiously.

"Then why can't we go?" She asked.

"Maybe you will, and maybe I will, but not like this." He looked at the monitor, still smiling falsely.

"You're not making sense," Rose told him, standing up.

"I might never make sense again. I might have two heads, or no head! Imagine me with no head! And don't say that's an improvement," When he looked at her again, his expression was serious. "But, it's a bit dodgy, this process. You never know what you're gonna end up as," #

The Doctor clutched his stomach, grunting as a burst of light shot from all over his body. Rose stepped forward with a cry of 'Doctor!'

"Stay away!" He warned her, his face contorted in pain.

"Tell me what's going on," She said urgently.

"I absorbed all of the energy of the Time Vortex and no-one's meant to do that." His voice was still light and cheery. "Every cell in my body's dying,"

"Can't you do something?" Rose asked desperately.

"Yeah, I'm doin' it now," He replied, "Time Lords have this little trick, sort of a way of cheating death. Except, it means I'm gonna change and I'm not gonna see you again. At least not like this, not with this daft old face," He said, chuckling slightly.

"And before I go-,"

"Don't say that!" Rose said, cutting over him. Maybe if he didn't talk, if he didn't say those awful words, then it wouldn't be true, and the Doctor would be okay. He'd tell her he was joking, laugh at her horrified expression, give her a hug and they'd whizz off in the TARDIS to a new planet. They could go to Barcelona, like he'd suggested.

"Rose," He said her name with such softness that it made her want to cry. "Before I go I just want to tell you that you were fantastic, absolutely fantastic," He cocked his head, smirking. "And d'you know what? So was I!" Rose smiled slowly, as if his grin was infectious. Suddenly his arms and legs stiffened and a great yellow light burst from his head and hands. Rose had to cover her eyes the intensity was so great. When her eyes adjusted she slowly lowered her arm to see brown hair sprout from the Doctor's scalp as the light disappeared and there was a new man where the Doctor had been standing. He was thinner, with brown hair that seemed to have a mind of its own, with brown eyes to match.

"Hello oka- Ooh, new teeth. That's always weird," He didn't even seem to notice that Rose was practically cowering against one of the pillars, "So, where was I," He looked at her and grinned. "Oh yeah, Barcelona," He skipped over to the TARDIS' control panel and pressed a few buttons, pulling the odd lever.

"Tuesday, October, 5006 on the way to Barcelona!" Rose thought she should say something to this strange man. That they should maybe wait for the Doctor, where ever he'd gone. She felt slightly angry that he'd left her with this over-excited man and not even told her where he'd gone. She didn't want to say anything however, because it could provoke him.

"Now then, what do I look like?" He asked before thrusting his hand in the air to stop her saying anything (not that she was going to anyway).

"No, no, no, no no no, no, no, no, no. No. Don't tell me. Let's see... two legs, two arms, two hands..." He rotated his wrist. _"_Slight weakness in the dorsal tubercle," He observed before shoving his hands through his hair, "Hair! I'm not bald, ooh, big hair!" He slid his hands down the sides of his head. "Sideburns, I've got sideburns!" He cried delightedly. His now even more messed up made him seem more erratic. Oh, and really bad skin. Little bit thinner..." He slapped his stomach. "That's weird. Give me time, I'll get used to it," He looked up at her, serious for the first time since his appearance. "I... have got... a mole. I can feel it. Between my shoulder blades, there's a mole." He grinned again. "That's all right. Love the mole!" He turned towards her fully. "Go on then, tell me. What do you think?" He didn't seem to have noticed that Rose hadn't spoken a single word.

"Who are you?" She asked timidly. He looked at her like _she _was the crazy one.

"I'm the Doctor," Rose shook her head in disbelief.

"No, where is he?" Her voice grew stronger, more confident. "Where's the Doctor? What've you done to him?" She accused.

"You saw me, I changed. Right in front of you," He pointed to the space behind him.

"I saw him sort of…explode. And then you replaced him, like a…" She struggled to find the words. "A teleport, or a transmat, or a body swap or something," She walked forwards, pushing him gently on the chest. He felt warm, and there was a slight hint of muscle, despite his thin body. And he was quite attractive, with soft eyes and a cheeky grin. Rose shook herself from her inappropriate thoughts. "You're not fooling me; I've seen all sorts of things. Nanogenes, Gelth, Slitheen," He said nothing, just stared at her and she gasped. "Oh, my God, are you Slitheen?" She asked.

"I'm not a Slitheen," He told her, and for some reason she believed him.

"Send him back, I'm warning you, send the Doctor back right now!"

"Rose, it's me. Honestly, it's me, I was dying. To save my own life I changed my body, every single cell but still me."

"You can't be," She said, her voice breaking slightly.

"Then how could I remember this?" He stepped forward, and for some reason Rose didn't step back, or run away screaming, although, she was in the TARDIS, so she had no idea where she'd end up if she did. The TARDIS may be bigger on the outside, but it wouldn't take this man that claimed he was the Doctor long to catch her.

"Then how can I remember this?" His voice turned low and husky as he looked deep into her eyes. "The very first word I ever said to you, trapped in that cellar, surrounded by shop-window dummies. Ooh, such a long time ago, I took your hand," His fingers weaved through hers as he took her small hand in hers. "I took your hand, I said one word. Just one word," Rose felt her heartbeat increase until she thought it would beat right out of her chest, and she'd only felt that way with one man.

"I said, 'Run!'" There was a fire in his eyes, one that Rose had seen in the Doctor's eyes, and that made her sure that this man really was him.

"Doctor," She said, raising a hand to his face. He placed his hand over hers, squeezing it gently.

"Hello," He said. She breathed in the leather, and his new smell. It reminded her of fresh wood. The Doctor buried his face in the crook of her neck, relieved that she believed him.

"Oh, we never stopped, did we; all across the universe, running, running, running. And that one time we had to hop. D'you remember, hopping for our lives? Yeah? Remember hopping for your life? Yeah? Hop, where they… no?" He stopped hopping.

"Can you change back?" She asked.

"Do you want me to?" He looked disappointed.

"Yeah – well, sort of. I mean…you're so different…" She trailed off, still staring at him. "Can you?"

"No," He said. "It's like I said, the Time Lord trick. It's called regeneration, but the thing is, when I change – or regenerate – I can't change back. I'm sorry," There was a heavy silence for a minute before he spoke again.

"So, do you want to leave?" He asked and her heart sank faster than the Titanic had when it had hit the iceberg.

"Do you want me to leave?" He shook his head.

"No!" He said quickly, "But…it's your choice, if you want to go home,"

"You mean back to the Powell Estate and Mum?" She twisted her hands nervously. "Mickey?"

"Well…yeah. It's all waiting for you, fish and chips…Saturday night telly…lazy afternoons."

"I'd have to go back to working in a shop,"

"Yeah, you would." He walked over to the control panel, fiddling with things.

"Cancel Barcelona, switching to the Powell Estate…er…24th December. Consider it a Christmas present." The TARDIS stopped humming, signalling that they had landed. "Here we are then, home." The Doctor said, standing back and shoving his hands in his now-too-big leather jacket.

"Home," Rose repeated. She walked across the TARDIS and pushed open the door. It creaked loudly, reverberating in the cold silence. She glanced back at him before stepping outside and closing the door behind her.

And that was it. The Doctor was alone again, and he felt hollow. The Doctor wandered around the TARDIS, slightly unsure what to do with himself. The creak of the TARDIS door opening again made him look up.

"I'm sorry, I was wrong. This is my home, I was just freaked out because you'd changed," Rose's words were practically falling from her lips. She ran across the TARDIS floor, her feet pounding on the floor as she jumped into the Doctor's arms, like something out of a cheesy movie. He was holding her tightly and she was holding him just as strongly, and the Doctor wondered for a moment if they would ever be able to release one another. Then, suddenly, they were kissing and it was so wonderful. The Doctor could've been stood in the middle of the Time War with worlds crashing and burning around him, and he'd have hardly noticed with Rose's soft lips on his.

And then it was over, and Rose had pulled away. She let out a surprised sob as she put her hand over her mouth.

"I-I'm sorry. I just…acted on impulse. I don't expect you to –,"

"Oh Rose," The Doctor lifted his hand and stroked her bottom lip with his thumb. "You're so beautiful," He moved his hand to tuck a single blonde strand behind her ear.

"My former self…the one with the big ears…he was so closed off. From the day we met. But in this body I feel more…free. You showed me to look at the positives and not just brood all the time. I was cold and cynical, travelling the stars because it was all I could do, but then I met a young woman in the basement of Henrik's department store. But I've always loved you, because you made me better." Tears were streaking down Rose's face now. "Even better than I was before," Rose reached up and brushed her fingers through his manic hair.

"You really have got some great, _great _hair," She said, chuckling. He smiled at her before leaning in to press his lips to hers lightly.

"I can't take all the credit," Rose mumbled against his lips. "After all, you turned me into something…brilliant. Life was just some repetitious cycle day after day, and then you took me to see other planets – other creatures. Things that I never knew existed, and I didn't feel so insignificant anymore," She pulled him into a hug, resting her head against his leather jacket. The Doctor rested his head on hers.

"You were always brilliant Rose. After all, you saved me when I didn't even realise I needed saving,"

"We saved each other," Rose settled, winding her arms around his neck.

And there, in a grimy alleyway where a Police Box stood, inside two people found a love, and that love would grow even further, smoothing over the scars that both people held. They would comfort each other when the nightmares descended, they would travel the universe, exploring planets and species, and most importantly, they would never be alone.

**A/N: So, I'm sorry if this was a bit boring, but I am still working on my story _Worth the Wait_ I just decided to write a nice fluffy little one-shot. **


End file.
